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IT is only a couple of days away for the Centennial Coal Lithgow Flash Gift on Saturday and is shaping up to be the best ever.

Current Australian and Commonwealth Games champions Melissa Breen and Lauren Boden from Canberra are lining up to have a crack at the major prizemoney from Australia’s richest women’s foot race.

Lithgow Mayor Neville Castle said: “The Lithgow Flash Gift Athletics Carnival continues to draw the best sprinters from across Australia and this year’s event will see the strongest field in the history of the Lithgow Flash Gift.

It’s a great opportunity for locals to see the best of the best after their return from the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.”

This year’s Lithgow Flash Gift will see the return of one of the nation’s finest sprinters from Toowoomba, powerhouse Charlotte Van Veenendaal who won the Lithgow Flash Gift two years ago and who has been displaying great form in Queensland lately by beating everyone who has come up against her.

Mr Ken English, General Manager of NSW Athletic League, said: “Another fine speedster from Sydney, Jacinta Doyle, has been showing out in the longer sprint events this season and will be hoping to take the strength developed from these to run the classic 120 metres.”

“Many think Doyle is the one to beat in this year’s event.

“Throw in the winner of the first-ever Lithgow Flash Gift Alison Baillache (nee Glapa) from Newcastle, now recovered from a long-term injury, South Australia’s Zoe Kennedy and the Victorians who took out the trifecta last year and it is easy to see that we have the makings of a crackerjack contest,” he said.

For anyone wishing to enter the junior events and the Valley Challenge, entry forms can be collected from the Lithgow Visitors Centre or downloaded from the Lithgow Flash Gift website www.lithgow.com/